Data management system and computer program

ABSTRACT

A data management system is provided that manages sets in an orderly fashion.  
     Sets are hierarchically organized according to implications thereof and stored in a set storage device  20.  When a set in the relatively upper level of the hierarchy is specified among the hierarchically structured sets, a main controller section  10  performs a logical operation on all sets that belong to lower levels of the hierarchy thereof, and causes a display device DP to display a result of the logical operation as contents of said set specified.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] The present application claims priority from Japanese ApplicationNo. 2002-11455 filed Jan. 21, 2002, the disclosures of which is herebyincorporated by reference herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates to data management systems, andmore specifically to an approach for hierarchically managing sets, or acollection of data belonging to a certain conditional scope, accordingto their implications.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] With a database management system (DBMS), when it comes tosearching data stored in database structures within and/or outside thesystem, the operator typically inputs search criteria into the DBMS,which extracts data that matches the search criteria entered. The dataso extracted has its specific implication, one by one. Thus, attemptshave been made to retain a collection of such data as a set and includethat set in a search target as well, thereby facilitating efficientsearch processing.

[0004] When a set is stored, a name that reflects its implication isimparted to the set, or a memo or the like that describes an implicationof the set is attached thereto, in order to recognize individual sets.

[0005] However, as the number of sets increases, such identificationtechniques become meaningless. For example, assuming that a search isconducted on items describing the number of employees of a company, thenthere are a great variety of sets, including: a set of medium-sizedcompanies (having 50 through 500 employees); a set of small-sizedcompanies (having 50 or less employees); a set of mom-and-pop companies(having four or less employees); a set of companies having fouremployees; a set of companies having three employees; a set of companieshaving three or four employees; a set of companies having one employee;and so forth. An actual search is typically conducted using searchcriteria across several items; as such, if a search criterion related tothe “region”, for example, is merely added to the afore-described“number of employees”, the number of sets would increase unlimitedly,such as a set of companies of medium size (having 50 through 500employees) and located in Tokyo; a set of companies of medium size(having 50 through 500 employees) and located in Kanagawa; a setoffcompanies of medium size (having 50 through 500 employees) and locatedin Chiba; and so on.

[0006] In this way, it could become difficult to find a set of interestamong enormous amounts of sets merely through names of sets or theirmemos, and even though it has been retained as an already searched set,it could no longer be searched quickly.

[0007] With techniques for identifying individual sets by names of setsor memos, etc., ones having identical implications but different namesmight be created unless names or memos are assigned by stringent rules;as a result, useless sets would be stored in redundancy.

[0008] In addition, there may be cases where sets having similarimplications have to be retained in redundancy because search criteriaare slightly different. In the afore-described example, the set ofmom-and-pop companies (having four or less employees), the set ofcompanies having four employees, the set of companies having three orfour employees are overlapped in the sense that those are companieshaving four employees; however, because queries about the number ofemployees to be determined are different, they are separate sets fromeach other.

[0009] Furthermore, there are often cases where data on the samecustomer are managed according different concepts, such as sales dataand repair data regarding a particular customer, or where data ofexactly identical contents are managed under different code systemsamong database structures. In such cases, it is necessary to modify thesystem so as to have a unified code system, or to separately build ananalytical system having a unified code system and import data into thatanalytical system.

[0010] Additionally, even though a desired result may be obtained morequickly by collecting and retaining search results as sets than not bycollecting as sets, identification information alone that identifieseach set element would not be enough for outputting a final searchresult.

[0011] For example, unless information, such as the name, address,telephone number, etc. of a customer identified by the identificationinformation is appended in addition to the identification informationbefore it is outputted, the resulting information would often beinsufficient. In order to output such information, reference must bemade separately to a database structure that records customer names,addresses, telephone numbers, and so forth. In other words, to utilizethe sets, cooperation is required with the database structure thatprovides a basis for creating sets, when a search is conducted. Thus,search service may be requested during a period when the databasestructure is not operational due to its maintenance or for otherreasons, or, because of its architecture, it cannot be applied to asearch system that is not physically connected to the databasestructure.

[0012] Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to providea mechanism for enabling search and other operations on sets to beperformed quickly by managing sets in an orderly fashion.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0013] To achieve the above object, the present invention provides adata management system, comprising: a storage device for hierarchicallyorganizing and storing sets, or a collection of data that belong to acertain conditional scope, according to implications thereof; and aprocessing means for performing, when a set in the relatively upperlevel of the hierarchy is specified among the hierarchically structuredsets stored in said storage device, a logical operation on all sets thatbelong to lower levels of the hierarchy thereof and for causing apredetermined display device to display a result of the logicaloperation as contents of said set specified.

[0014] Within the storage device, said set is stored in a set folder.The processing means updates the contents of said set and the sets inthe upper level of the hierarchy thereof, as new data is placed as a setin said set folder.

[0015] Preferably, said processing means includes an ID conversionmechanism for converting IDs (hereinafter also referred to asidentification information) of data represented by multiple types ofcode systems that are different from each other into a common ID,wherein: IDs of multiple data that have identical or similarimplications to each other but are represented by different code systemsare converted into a relevant common ID by said ID conversion mechanism,so that said multiple data are handled as a collection of data (set) onwhich said logical operation can be performed, respectively.

[0016] It should be appreciated that the concept of “data” describedherein may include a collection of data comprised of a data list and soforth, that is, sets.

[0017] Said processing means includes a set definition mechanism fordefining an implication for a set and a list import mechanism forimporting a list of data that provides a basis for creating a new set,so that said set definition mechanism and list import mechanism areactivated independently and concurrently.

[0018] From the standpoint of facilitating identification of setelements, a means is further included for causing said storage device toretain information that represents data (set element) identified by anindividual common ID in such a form as paired with said common ID, andsaid processing means utilizes said information in order to identify theresult of said logical operation.

[0019] The present invention further provides a computer program.

[0020] The computer program causes a computer system having a storagedevice and a display device to execute processing of: hierarchicallyorganizing sets, or a collection of data that belong to a certainconditional scope, according to implications thereof, and storing themin said storage device; and performing, when a set in the relativelyupper level of the hierarchy is specified among the hierarchicallystructured sets stored in said storage device, a logical operation onall sets that belong to lower levels of the hierarchy thereof and forcausing said display device to display a result of the logical operationas contents of said set specified.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a data management systemaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0022]FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of contents of anobject ID table.

[0023]FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of contents of a setstorage area.

[0024]FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating an example of data searchresults for “companies with two employees” in a database structure B.

[0025]FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating the state where the searchresults of FIG. 4A are converted to an object ID list.

[0026]FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram defining a portion of ahierarchical structure of sets in a set folder.

[0027]FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram defining a portion of ahierarchical structure of sets in a set folder (continued from FIG. 5).

[0028]FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a hierarchical image.

[0029]FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a hierarchical image.

[0030]FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a hierarchical image.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0031] An embodiment of the present invention is described below indetail with reference to the drawings.

[0032]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a data management systemaccording to the present invention.

[0033] The data management system 1 is implemented by a computerconnected to an external storage device, such as a hard disk, a displaydevice DP, and an input device IN; and a computer program of the presentinvention, which is read and executed by the computer. The computerincludes a function of performing bidirectional communication among aplurality of database structures A, B, and C via a network N, and afunction of performing bidirectional communication with a local systemCS connected to a local area network (not shown).

[0034] The database structures A, B, and C are external servers thatstore data that provides a basis for sets, data warehouses, or otherdata storage means; they have a mechanism for conducting a data searchin response to a request from the data management system 1 andoutputting the search result thereof to the data management system 1.

[0035] It should be appreciated that although three database structuresA, B, and C are presented in FIG. 1 for the sake of simplicity ofexplanation, there may be one database structure, or four or moredatabase structures.

[0036] In the present embodiment, as the computer executes the computerprogram, a main controller section 10, a search processing section 11, aset management section 12, an image processing section 13, and aninterface processing section 14 are formed as functional blocks in thecomputer, and the external storage device is used as a set storagedevice 20.

[0037] [Functional Configuration of System]

[0038] The main controller section 10, which acts as a core of the datamanagement system 1, comprehensively controls initiation, shutdown, andcollaboration of operations for other functional blocks 11-14. It alsoanalyzes the contents of search criteria entered to issue a searchinstruction, and outputs the search result to the search requesting end.

[0039] The main controller section 10 has a temporary storage area 10Rcomprised of a RAM or the like, so that information that is temporarilygenerated is retained in the temporary storage area 10R until it iseventually deleted or saved.

[0040] The search processing section 11 directs a data search toward thedatabase structures A, B, and C in accordance with search criteriainstructed from the main controller section 10, and collectively obtainssearch results in the form of listed files. Non-listed search resultsmay be listed by the search processing section 11.

[0041] The list may contain codes (customer codes, etc., if customerdata is applicable) for identifying elements of sets.

[0042] The set management section 12 collects as sets the lists obtainedfrom the search processing section 11, and hierarchically manages therespective sets according to the set theory concept.

[0043] For collecting as sets, sets having identical or similarimplications are grouped and organized in folders. The folder is calleda set folder. Whether implications are similar or not may be implementedby, for example, pre-assigning a common code to identical or similarimplications and checking whether a set inputted matches that commoncode. Sets may also be classified as the operator inserts sets, asjudged appropriately, into the hierarchical set folder that ispre-configured according to the purpose.

[0044] Here, “hierarchical management based on the set theory concept”means that the set folder in the upper level of the hierarchy isrepresented as a result of a logical operation, e.g., a result of alogical sum, for set folders or sets in the lower level of the hierarchythereof, and that set folders may be handled as equivalents to sets. Forexample, Set Folder “1-4 Employees” is a logical sum of Sets “1Employee”, “2 Employees”, “3 Employees”, and “4 Employees” in the lowerlevel of the hierarchy thereof. Set Folder “1-9 Employees” may berepresented by a logical sum of Set Folder “1-4 Employees” and SetFolder “5-9 Employees” in the lower level of the hierarchy thereof. Ifthe lower level of the hierarchy is a set folder, an operation todetermine a logical sum of its further lower level of the hierarchy isrepeated. The lowest level of the hierarchy is not a set folder, but aset.

[0045] With such a hierarchical organization, sets to be really storedin the set storage device 20 are simple ones in the lowest level of thehierarchy, such as “1 Employee” and “2 Employees”; sets, such as “1-4Employees”, may be defined as set folders in the upper level of thehierarchy. By providing such functionality to the set management section12, the problem of having duplicate sets having similar implications asin the prior art can be avoided.

[0046] The image processing section 13 performs image processing tocause the display device connected to the computer to display thehierarchical structure of sets as a hierarchical image, and display indetail the contents of the individual set folders, sets, and data.

[0047] The interface processing section 14 performs bidirectionalcommunication control between the database structures A, B, and C;control for receiving various instructions entered by the operatorthrough the input device IN connected to the computer, or instructionsfrom the local system CS and computer program; control for causing thedisplay device DP to display the results of image processing performedby the image processing section 13; control for outputting the searchresults to the search requesting end; and so forth.

[0048] It should be appreciated that the search results obtained fromthe database structures A, B, and C are comprised of a list ofindividual data that meets search criteria, although data IDs may bemanaged with different code systems between the database structures A,B, C and the data management system 1. In consideration of that point,the data management system 1 includes a mechanism for unitary managementby using a common code system for data IDs.

[0049] More specifically, the contents of the data items managed by thesystem, such as, for example, customers, employees, etc., are regardedas objects, and individual objects are identified by a common ID, orobject ID. Then, the set storage device 20 stores an object ID table 21(hereinafter described in detail) that defines a correspondence betweenan object code for identifying an object managed under the code systemfor each database structure and the afore-described object ID.

[0050] When search results are inputted, object IDs are assigned to allof them, thereby allowing for unitary management within the system.Hence, the data managed under different code systems between thedatabase structures can be handled as a collection of commonly formatteddata, thereby facilitating logical operations on them.

[0051] Using the list obtained from the database structures A, B, and Cas a set, the data management system 1 includes a set definitionmechanism for defining an implication for a set and storing that set,and a list import mechanism for importing the list of data that providesa basis for creating a new set, so that the set definition mechanism andlist import mechanism are activated independently and concurrently. Theset definition mechanism coordinates the respective database structuresA, B, and C with the search processing section 11, so that when the setcreation is completed, they may be disconnected from each other.

[0052] In order to obtain a list from the result of combining sets(which is also a set) while it is disconnected for the databasestructures A, B, and C, the list import mechanism, in the presentembodiment, is provided with a minimum table where individual object IDsthat identify set elements are mapped to objects (e.g., customer names,addresses, telephone numbers, etc.). Using this table, the operator mayeasily understand which object ID an object corresponds to. Furthermore,because there is no need to separately access the database structures A,B, and C that have objects, such as customer names, they may bedisconnected. Of course, if the database structures A, B, and C areconnected to the present system, more detailed objects can be searched.

[0053] According to such an approach, the data management system 1 neednot be configured for direct connection with the database structures A,B, and C.

[0054] [Set Storage Device]

[0055] The set storage device 20 is now described. In the set storagedevice 20 are formed an object ID table 21, a set storage area 22, and ahierarchical definition area 23.

[0056] The object ID table 21, which is a conversion table for unitarymanagement of all search results as objects handled under the presentsystem, as described above, provides a mapping or correspondence tablebetween object IDs and object codes used to identify data or sets thatprovide a basis for creating sets. An example of object IDs is presentedin FIG. 2.

[0057] In FIG. 2, customer code “0002” obtained by searching thedatabase structure A having the first code system corresponds to objectID “2”; and customer code “A0002” obtained by searching the databasestructure B having the second code system similarly corresponds toobject ID “2”. This example suggests that customer code “0002” of thedatabase structure A and customer code “A0002” of the database structureB denote the same customer.

[0058] For object code ID “3”, it is suggested that there is a customercode corresponding to the database structures A and C, but for thedatabase structure B having the second code system, there is nocorresponding customer code.

[0059] In the object ID table 21, several management items for theobject corresponding to its object ID, such as customer name, address,telephone number, etc., are set as mapped. These management items areestablished with the aim of making it easy to identify a request ofinterest when the operator makes a search request.

[0060] The set storage area 22 summarizes search results as objects,which are stored as sets. In the set storage area 22 are saved setdefinitions that represent contents of the sets. An example of the setstorage area 22 is illustrated in FIG. 3.

[0061] In FIG. 3, “Set ID” is an ID for univocally identifying arelevant set in the set storage area 22 (its content is identified by“Set Name”). “Object ID List” is a collection of objects IDs for objectscontained in the relevant set, and “Object Count” denotes the number ofobject IDs contained in the “Object ID List”.

[0062] The hierarchical definition area 23 is an area for retainingdefinition information that defines the hierarchical structure ofmultiple sets. Although there is no specific limitation on the formatfor representing the hierarchical structure of sets, it is convenient torepresent it in the XML (Extensible Markup Language) format, at present.A definition example of the XML-formatted hierarchical structure isillustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6.

[0063]FIGS. 5 and 6 define a portion of the hierarchical structure ofsets within a plurality of set folders. The definition information atthe uppermost level of the hierarchy is for Set Folder “1-9 Employees,with two links to a lower level of the hierarchy thereof. The two linksare associated with Set Folder “1-4 Employees” and Set Folder “5-9Employees”.

[0064] Set Folder “1-4 Employees” includes four links to a further lowerlevel of the hierarchy. The four links to the hierarchy are Set “1Employee”, Set “2 Employees”, Set “3 Employees”, and Set “4 Employees”.They do not have any link to still lower levels of the hierarchy, whichsuggests that they are not set folders but sets.

[0065] Similarly, Set Folder “5-9 Employees” includes five links, at alower level of the hierarchy thereof, Set “5 Employees”, Set “6Employees”, Set “7 Employees”, Set “8 Employees”, and Set “9 Employees”.

[0066] Next, the operating procedures of the data management system 1 soconfigured are described.

[0067] [Definition/Update of Set Hierarchy]

[0068] For example, the operating procedures where a request is made viathe interface processing section 14 from the operator fordefinition/update of the set hierarchy are described.

[0069] The main controller section 10 reads the information stored inthe hierarchical definition area 23 of the set storage device 20 intothe temporary storage area. It then builds a hierarchical imageaccording to the set information read and causes the display device DPto display it via the interface processing section 14. Thus, thehierarchical image as shown in FIGS. 7-9 is displayed on the displaydevice DP.

[0070] It should be appreciated that FIGS. 7-9 present an example of thetree-structured hierarchical image such that the hierarchical structureis easy to understand, although any format of hierarchical image may beacceptable as far as the hierarchical structure is represented.

[0071] As the operator instructs edit operations, such as add a newlevel of the hierarchy, delete an unnecessary level of the hierarchy,move, and copy, for the hierarchical image displayed in this manner, themain controller section 10 has a logic for modifying the definitioninformation stored in the temporary storage area. The logic itself is anapproach that is conventionally implemented by many systems, and thus isnot described herein. The editing performed in this process is to builda logical hierarchical concept of sets, and sets need not bepre-existent at the time of the concept definition.

[0072] In response to the instruction from the operator, the sethierarchical definition may be stored in the hierarchical definitionarea 23 in the middle of editing or upon completion of editing. When theset hierarchical definition is stored in the hierarchical definitionarea 23, the main controller section 10 deletes the definitioninformation stored in the temporary storage area.

[0073] Although there is no particular problem in the middle of editingof the set hierarchical definition, sets, instead of set folders, needto be defined in the lowest level of the hierarchy at the time ofcompletion of editing. It is also necessary that a means for datacooperation with the database structure be established, such as whatkind of search criteria should be used for a query from which databasestructure to obtain a desired result, or whether it already exists as asearch result in the form of a file, etc.

[0074] [Creation/Update of Set]

[0075] The operation is now described where a request forcreating/updating the sets is made in response from the operator, orautomatically (for example, via timer function that specifies the dateand time).

[0076] The main controller section 10 reads the definition informationstored in the hierarchical definition area 23 of the set storage device20 into the temporary storage area. It also checks whether each of thesets has already been stored in the set storage area 22 according to thedefinition information read. Even though they are stored, it detectssuch sets that need to be updated as the data in the database structuresA, B, and C have been updated since they were stored, and such sets thathave not been stored yet since the set hierarchical definition, andrequests the search processing section 11 to search data that provides abasis for creating such sets and to import the search result.

[0077] The search processing section 11 asks the database structures A,B, and C to search data requested, and imports the search result, whichis passed to the main controller section 10.

[0078] The main controller section 10 stores the search result into thetemporary storage area and matches the data for the item that identifiesan object in the search result with the contents of the object ID table21 shown in FIG. 2 to create a list where it is converted to an objectID.

[0079]FIG. 4A shows the data search results for “companies with twoemployees” in the database structure B, where customer codes “A0002” and“B0002”, which are the search results, are created as a list havingobject IDs “2” and “5”, as shown in FIG. 4B. The list of the object IDsso created is stored, as a set, in the set storage area 22.

[0080] [Set Access: Display/Selection of Set Hierarchy]

[0081] The operating procedures are described where a query request fora set is made by the operator via the interface processing section 14.

[0082] The main controller section 10 reads the definition informationstored in the hierarchical definition area of the set storage device 20into the temporary storage area 10R. It then builds a hierarchical imageaccording to the definition information read and outputs it to thedisplay device DP.

[0083] During this process, if the number of sets increases, it is notdesirable to expand all levels of the hierarchy, from the lowermost tothe uppermost, and display them at the same time, because the viewingsize increases accordingly. Thus, the main controller section 10controls the image processing section 13 to initially display only theuppermost level or its immediately lower level of the hierarchy from thehierarchical image in the hierarchically organized display area 51 shownin FIG. 7. During that time, the detail display area 52 is blank.

[0084] In the hierarchically organized display area 51, upon detectingthat the operator specifies, via a pointer or the like, a set folder ofinterest, the main controller section 10 controls the image processingsection 13 so that set folders and sets in the hierarchy specified aredisplayed. This causes the display contents shown in FIG. 7 to change tothose as shown in FIG. 8. In the detail display area 52, set names,count of data belonging to the set, object IDs, date modified, and soforth are displayed for each set folder or set. If a set folder in astill lower level than the expanded level of the hierarchy as shown inFIG. 8 is specified, the display contents transition to those as shownin FIG. 9.

[0085] A similar screen transition occurs when a set folder in anotherlevel of the hierarchy is specified.

[0086] When the set of interest is displayed on screen, the operator mayspecify that set via a pointer or the like to view its contents or useit for mathematical operation in conjunction with other sets.

[0087] When the contents of a set are viewed, not only the object ID ofthe set is merely displayed, but also items for facilitatingidentification of objects, such as customer names and addresses, thatare stored in the object ID table 21 can be fetched and displayed.

[0088] [Set Access: Logical Sum Operation on Sets in Lower Level ofHierarchy of Set Folder]

[0089] On the display screen of the set hierarchy in FIGS. 7-9, theoperator may view the contents of a set folder and use it formathematical operation with other sets, in a similar manner asspecifying a set, as described above.

[0090] Upon detecting that such operation is performed by the operator,the main controller section 10 cooperates with the set managementsection 12 to check the architecture of the lower level of the hierarchyin the specified set folder by investigating the set storage area 22 ofthe set storage device 20. If the lower level of the hierarchy is stilla set folder, a similar approach is used to check still lower level(s)of the hierarchy. It fetches all sets in all the subordinate levels ofthe hierarchy below the set folder specified and performs a logical sumoperation between those sets. It then causes the result of the logicalsum operation to be displayed on screen as the contents of the sets inthe set folder specified. In this way, the contents of the set foldercould be viewed or used for mathematical operation with other sets, asif such sets initially existed.

[0091] In the example shown in FIG. 7, when set folder “-4” in“Employees” is designated, a logical sum operation is performed on itslower-level sets “1 employee”, “2 employees”, “3 employees”, and “4employees” and returned as a set.

[0092] If the same set folder is viewed frequently, caching techniquesmay be used: for example, the result of the logical sum operationperformed as described above is saved and, when the same set folder isspecified again, the process for logical sum operation on the sets isomitted and the content saved is fetched out.

[0093] In this way, because set folders as viewed by the operator can behandled as equivalents to sets, similar sets having duplicate contentsmay be automatically replaced in the set hierarchy.

[0094] [Hierarchical Management of Sets]

[0095] As means to organize sets that were already created, set foldersmay be created, and during the process of classifying those havingsimilar implications in the same folder, duplicate sets or the like maybe discovered, thereby avoiding redundancy.

[0096] During the process of finding a set of interest, one can easilydiscover that set by tracing the levels of the hierarchy.

[0097] By designing the set category in a hierarchical manner,categories to be combined with sets become more obvious, so that a setfor a simpler condition need only be provided from sets that combine aplurality of conditions; as a result, the number of sets required to besaved is reduced. Assume, by way of example, that the customers areclassified by sales amount into ten levels, classified by geographicalregion into ten locations, and classified by age into ten levels. Then,all combinations thereof are equal to 10×10×10; however, if sets arecreated for each of the classifications of sales amount, geographicalregion, and age, respectively, and processing is instead performed todetermine a logical product of those sets, as needed, then 10+10+10 setsneed only to be provided.

[0098] (Logical Sum of Lower-Level Sets)

[0099] Defining, as a set folder, a set obtained by a logical sum oflower-level sets eliminates the need for physically creating it, so thatsets having similar implications need no longer be provided inredundancy, wherever possible.

[0100] Furthermore, by hierarchically configuring sets under thisconcept, sets can be organized more efficiently.

[0101] (Importing of Sets from Multiple Databases)

[0102] Even if there are multiple database structures that cover objectsthat are identical but have different codes (customer codes, etc.) foridentifying objects, operations among those database structures can beachieved through sets, without consolidating those database structures.For example, in cases where one database manages customers' salesdetails, while the other manages repair-related data, the datamanagement system 1 according to the present embodiment enables therelationship to be investigated between purchasers of a certain productand persons requesting repair of old models. Conventionally, this wouldrequire system consolidation, or require data that combines the datafrom both of the systems to be configured, which would involveconsiderable expenses and/or operating costs. With the data managementsystem 1 of the present embodiment, it is only necessary to searchpersons who purchased the product of interest and persons who repairedit, and organize them as sets.

[0103] (Implementation of Search System with Only Sets Disconnected fromDatabase)

[0104] Because the step of preparing sets and the step of providingsearch service that combines sets can be performed at different timings,system administration can be quite simplified.

[0105] The data used for processing related to analysis of customers,etc. may be usually inappropriate at the time when the daily businessactivity is conducted. In such cases, information is typically finalizedat the time when daily processing is closed at night. At this point intime, processing for set collection may be performed and set-basedsearch service may be operated next day.

[0106] It should be appreciated that in the present embodiment, theinvention has been described with reference to the scheme where theobject ID table 21 exists; however, if there is only one type ofapplicable database structure and if a one-to-one equivalentrelationship exists between that database structure and the object ID ofthe present invention, the present invention may be implemented even ifthe object ID table 21 does not exist.

[0107] Accordingly, as is clear from the description above, the presentinvention can provide a data management system that allows search andother operations on sets to be performed quickly by managing sets in anorderly fashion.

What is claimed is:
 1. A data management system, comprising: a storagedevice for hierarchically organizing and storing sets, or a collectionof data that belong to a certain conditional scope, according toimplications thereof; and a processing means for performing, when a setin the relatively upper level of the hierarchy is specified among thehierarchically structured sets stored in said storage device, a logicaloperation on all sets that belong to lower levels of the hierarchythereof and for causing a predetermined display device to display aresult of the logical operation as contents of said set specified. 2.The data management system according to claim 1, wherein: said set isstored in a set folder; and said processing means updates the contentsof said set and the sets in the upper level of the hierarchy thereof, asnew data or a new set is placed in said set folder.
 3. The datamanagement system according to claim 1, wherein: said processing meansincludes an ID conversion mechanism for converting IDs of datarepresented by multiple types of code systems that are different fromeach other into a common ID, wherein: IDs of multiple data that haveidentical or similar implications to each other but are represented bydifferent code systems are converted into a relevant common ID by saidID conversion mechanism, so that said multiple data or sets areconverted into and handled as a set on which said logical operation canbe performed, respectively.
 4. The data management system according toclaim 1, wherein: said processing means includes a set definitionmechanism for defining an implication for a set and a list importmechanism for importing a list of data that provides a basis forcreating a new set, so that said set definition mechanism and listimport mechanism can be activated independently and concurrently.
 5. Thedata management system according to claim 1, further comprising: a meansfor causing said storage device to retain information that represents animplication for data identified by an individual common ID in such aform as paired with said common ID; wherein said processing means readsand utilize said information that represents an implication from saidstorage device, in order to identify the result of said logicaloperation.
 6. A computer program for causing a computer system having astorage device and a display device to execute processing of:hierarchically organizing sets, or a collection of data that belong to acertain conditional scope, according to implications thereof, andstoring them in said storage device; and performing, when a set in therelatively upper level of the hierarchy is specified among thehierarchically structured sets stored in said storage device, a logicaloperation on all sets that belong to lower levels of the hierarchythereof and for causing said display device to display a result of thelogical operation as contents of said set specified.